Yikes! I didn’t even have time for one measly blog post throughout all of 2013. I will look on the bright side of that and be thankful to have been so busy throughout this year that it was low on the list of priorities.

Where do I begin recapping 2013? It has truly been one of the most exciting, difficult, awesome, frustrating, happy, sad, stressful, best, worst, and most exhilarating years of my life. Needless to say, year one of starting a business is quite the roller coaster. I think the highs and lows are what people like me thrive on – it’s really a risk-taker’s drug.

By the end of 2012: 1. I had a distillery (that no one knew about), 2. a product (that I loved – but, wasn’t sure if anyone else did), and 3. less than 20 accounts. I began 2013 headstrong with a continued devoted vision to bring rum distilling back to NY by educating the consumer through a unique (and awesome!) product (insert: Owney’s)…

As I sit here at the end of 2013 and evaluate The Noble Experiment NYC’s immense progress it is truly breathtaking. 1. Through the voices of amazing writers and tastemakers, people now know about the distillery. In 2013, I was named 30 Under 30 by Forbes and Zagat and the NY Times featured a profile on the story of TNE. These were just a few unimaginable press accolades. 2. I’m now also pretty sure some people like Owney’s. In 2013, Owney’s was awarded a gold medal for The Fifty Best white rums and a silver medal at the NY International Spirits competition. Additionally, the rum has made its way through some harsh buyers to some of the best bars and restaurants in the world and in the stores I can see people start to repurchase. 3. I am proud to say Owney’s is now available in over 200 bars, restaurants, liquor stores, and arenas (Barclays) in NYC!

The pursuit of a vision can go a long way. The HIGHs are really high.

It would be unrealistic to acknowledge the HIGHs without the LOWs. I cannot to begin to explain to unbelievable amount of effort it takes to start and begin to build a business. Although there are so many events to be grateful for this year, they did not occur without a huge amount of legwork. Firstly, there was no such thing as life outside of work. Every day I was in my office strategizing/taking care of back office stuff or in the distillery making rum. Every night I was either out in a bar or restaurant trying to meet people or standing in a liquor store pushing people to at least try the product. Every day and night driving in my car or working out in the gym during my ‘free’ time I was dreaming about the business. On my ‘nights off’ I made friends go to places that carried Owney’s to support them and spent the night chatting with the bartender. When I went to parties, I brought a bottle and talked to everyone about the rum. Mix in cold calling accounts, planning/executing events, hitting the streets knocking on doors with Owney’s in my purse, social media management, giving tours, and cleaning the bathroom.

For good measure, I must acknowledge some of my experiences in the standard tribulations and stresses of being a business owner – for example: those days in NYC when it rains really hard (which seemed to happen more often this year than any other!) and you stand there and stare at the toilet and floor drains talking to yourself saying “please don’t back up” “please don’t back up” (and of course more often than not, they do.) or those months when you glance at your bank account on the 30th and then stare at the wall wondering how you are going to get enough money in there to pay your bills on the 1st (…hmm how can I possibly sell 10 cases tomorrow so I can live to see another month?).

I like to mention these lows to express realism. These things can become paralyzing if you focus on them so you must keep pushing forward. I believe optimism and perseverance are a big part of success.

Although, I am still the sole employee of The Noble Experiment NYC there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I would be writing this today if it weren’t for a number of important entities. I would like to take the remainder of this to let you in on a little secret, all of the people who are behind me:

To My Family: Mom, Dad, Kath & H.

<<When I first told my parents that I was planning on building a distillery and quitting my job at the hedge fund, I don’t think they truly believed me. However, they still humored me with their input (which I highly value given their business education, acumen and experience). When I put in my notice, packed up my loft in TriBeCa and moved into my old room I think they realized it was real. Since then, their emotional, financial, and physical support has been unending>>

Thank you for housing me. Thank you for advising me. Thank you for motivating me. Thank you for putting in the occasional 12-15 hour day of bottling/labeling (and hauling around product). Thank you for depositing a thousand dollars here and there in my personal checking account with no questions asked so I could make the minimum payments on my ever-bulging credit card debt. Thank you for racing over to the distillery after a hysterical phone call that the place is flooded and then getting on your hands and knees with me to sop up sewer water. Thank you for buying Owney’s (no, my family doesn’t get any free rum)!

I must separately acknowledge the efforts of my baby sister. On top of the aforementioned support, she has gone above and beyond. Thank you Kath. Thank you for working Saturday’s in the tasting room. Thank you for doing liquor store tastings when I double-booked myself. Thank you for being an extra set of hands at big events. You bailed me out so many times this year.

H, thank you for being the man and always taking the back burner so I can focus on my work (in addition to your free manual labor skills!).

2. My Friends:

Thank you for being so supportive all the time! Thank you for understanding that I wasn’t the best friend this year and that my energies were devoted and focused on pursuing a dream. Thank you for understanding that I couldn’t make your birthday party or engagement party or just a normal Friday night drink.

3. Owney’s Drinkers:

Well if no one drank Owney’s, we really would be nothing. THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING OWNEY’S! I will never get over the feeling of someone (that I’ve never met!) making an Owney’s cocktail, taking a picture of it and tweeting it to me! Or seeing it on a menu for the first time. Or having someone thank me for making an awesome rum. It. Is. Just. So. Cool.

4. My Partners:

To all of my partners in the trade – the proprietors, the buyers, the bartenders, the servers, the chefs, the store staffs – THANK YOU! Thank you so much for your support. Thank you for showing Owney’s love on your shelves, on your back bars and in your glasses. Thank you for introducing people to the rum – you are a major voice to the consumer and I am so appreciative of all of your efforts. It has been so awesome to get to know you all over the past year and I am grateful for all of these friendships, old and new.

5. The Press:

Without you, not many people would know about this little distillery sitting in an old warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn run by a crazy woman. Thank you for being my voice to the world. I never envisioned the support of the media in propelling this business forward (especially without a publicist!) so thank you for sharing my story across all mediums. You have added an element of excitement I never thought I would achieve.

6. Nick Johnson (& Co.):

AKA Mr. Aesthetic. Thank you for your artistic abilities to execute my creative vision unlike anyone else. I never thought we would be able to work so well together but it really was meant to be – it’s been so fun creating and becoming good friends (even if we fight >50% of the time). You and Gabe Zimmerman really have some skills like no others – from graphics, to websites, to videos. I am pumped to continue to join forces for years to come.

7. T Edward Wines:

Thank you for allowing me to remove the cases from the trunk of my car to the back of your trucks. It really has gotten me out of a number of traffic jams You have become an extension of The Noble Experiment and a new found family. Thank you for all of your attention and for helping me grow my distribution this year. I truly appreciate your entire crew for all of your strategic and sales efforts.

As you can see this ‘one-woman-show’ wouldn’t be too far without the helping hands of various forces. I still want to pinch myself every day that I’m living and executing my vision – I actually make rum and people enjoy drinking it! In fact, somewhere in NYC someone is likely drinking Owney’s right now. It’s truly amazing to me what hard work can accomplish.

However, I could not be more excited to close the books on year 1 and begin new adventures! 2014, I’ve got big plans for you. So let’s raise a glass (of Owney’s, of course) and say good bye to 2013 and welcome a whole new year! Who knows, maybe I’ll even get a few employees in 2014 so I can blog more?

I honestly don’t even know where to begin as I write this post. It was one year ago that I left my old life of hedge-funding, moved home with my parents, poured my life savings and heart into an exciting new venture – building a distillery in NYC! One year ago today I was sitting on an old dirty warehouse that had no water, electric or gas and no distilling equipment. Now there is a complete distillery equipped with a tasting room that exists at 23A Meadow Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Now there is a great first product on the market – Owney’s NYC Rum – that I am very proud of. Now there is nothing before running a distillery. Now there is no real separation between work and ‘life’. The Noble Experiment NYC is my life. Now there is a lot of excitement ahead for 2013.

I want to dedicate this post to you – you my family, you my friends, you my investors, you my general contractor, you complete strangers (bar tenders/owners/liquor store proprietors/bloggers) that have walked into my life this year, you the traditional media/journalists, you the followers on social media that I have yet to even meet! Thank you all for every part you have played and continue to play in the development of this company. Your continued support is so unbelievably refreshing and you are the reason that I have been able to pull off what I have this year. One of the biggest take-aways from 2012 has been my utter amazement in the kindness of strangers. Although the booze business can be quite cutthroat (and definitely a hustle!) it is really amazing to see first-hand how people want to support local, small business. I know there is a long road ahead but I can take comfort in tackling the challenges knowing you’re there.

It is quite challenging and nearly impossible to describe the feelings I have towards this year and all that I have learned about myself and building a business from the ground up — I could rant for days but I won’t bore you, instead I raise my glass of Owney’s…

Sorry it’s been a while since I have updated my blog. I’ve had my hands full with a variety of things as I’m sure anyone could’ve guessed. Mainly, I have spent the last couple of months building a good amount of Owney’s inventory and prepping for my strategy on how to launch it into the market. I wanted to make sure that I had enough product to satisfy initial demand before I went out introducing it to bartenders, restauranteurs, and liquor store proprietors.

For the past two weeks I have started to hit the streets. Just me and my bottle. I have discovered a new word to add to my overall job description: Stalker. I’m slowly learning that being a good, NON-CREEPY stalker is a very important trait that adds to making someone a good salesperson. Most people would find this negative description, however I find it quite positive and sort of amusing. I live my days popping in and out of my targeted bars, restaurants, and liquor stores speaking with staff and trying to track down the person responsible for making spirits purchases. The challenge is that I am in fact, one of the last people that special person wants to see — just another liquor rep trying to sell them something. However, I am pretty resilient. I can hustle.

After I call, email, and show up to “X” place enough times I eventually find someone with purchasing decisions to speak with. Stalking takes time, but it works! The amazing news is that once I do get in front of someone, they tend to seem delighted with the product, packaging, and shocked (sometimes horrified!) that I’ve been doing this alone. I think a combination of all of these things has led people to start taking Owney’s on to their bars and shelves. I am so so excited and grateful for their support. It’s not easy to be one of the first establishments to take on a new brand and I am over the moon for that they have confidence in the product.

As of this week, we will be available at Bowery & Vine; Astor Wines & Spirits; Red, White, & Green Wine & Spirits; and Northside Discount Wines & Liquors. Also check us out on the cocktail menu at The Blind Barber, and in the restaurant/bar at Marc Forgione, Brandy Library, Flatbush Farm & Bar(n), and the Vanderbilt. So in case you’re in the market for some Owneys, you know where to go

Stay tuned for info about tours starting in November AND don’t forget to talk to your favorite bars, restaurants, and liquor stores about us!!

It’s been a very exciting and strenuous few days here on Meadow Street. As I announced the other day, we have started distilling rum! Although I have been studying the science and mechanics behind this process and practicing at other distilleries, there is still a nice little learning curve when it comes to running your own show (I have to give many thanks to my lil’ sis who has spent a lot of her vacation time this August helping me get in a grove!). Whether there was a screw loose in the still sending leaking water (or projecting hot mash all over the place, including on my hands – ouch!) or the pump on the boiler not being piped in correctly causing a little flood in the boiler room we seem to be discovering the little mistakes/oversights that have been made throughout the construction process. (side note : it is really ironic that the city makes you jump through hoops to get your boiler approved – which I am OK with since they are dangerous, especially given the size of ours – HOWEVER, they never actually turn the thing on! So I’m glad that we have passed 752 inspections for approval and then it malfunctions once we turn it on). Thankfully, each day is getting easier and easier and I am quickly developing solutions and routines to all the little bumps in the road!

After a couple of runs on the still we have collected some pretty tasty spirit so far! Tomorrow I will start bottling the first couple of batches with the goal of shipping 1-2 pallets to our warehouse early next week. Then it’s time to balance manufacturing with sales. I’m planning to literally go door to door hand selling the product. It’s going to take some time to develop and nurture lasting relationships with the trade. However, I’m hoping to quickly find a healthy balance between being in and out of the distillery – since of course selling the rum is just as important as making it taste delicious

Each night I go home later than the rest and I’m more exhausted than the night before but it’s really a great feeling. I am so happy to be making things and working as hard as I can to ensure the success of this ‘experiment’. “Blood. Sweat. And Tears.” has a whole new meaning these days and I look forward to continuing to find solutions to the 100% guaranteed challenges that lie ahead…

I am going to post some new, finished shots of the distillery (manufacturing area) on our Facebook page now – stay tuned for a picture of the bottle and tasting room tomorrow! HAPPY NATIONAL RUM DAY!

It has been an absurd few months here at the distillery – hence, my lack of blogging. From inspections, to architectural amendments, to stalking the NYC Dept of Buildings, to professional mistakes — it has been a wild ride. I have learned SO much about how to manage (or not manage) construction in NYC as well as so many things about myself personally (how to be more patient?). Hopefully, one day I will find the time to write a full book about my experiences once I have really had a proper time to reflect on the past 9 months.

Finally, after all the BS, we have a functioning boiler (not without a near death explosion though – of course, why wouldn’t that have happened?)! And, therefore (need-less-to-say) I have started cookin’ up some rum this past week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have so far created a number of rum mashes – essentially cooked up some ingredients in order to prepare for the fermentation process. After the mashing process, the ‘juice’ was pumped into the fermentation tanks so the yeast can go to town on eating those sugars and producing ethanol (what we drink!). I’m currently in the midst of making another mash as we speak. Tomorrow, we will pump the initial fermented wash into the copper pot still and conduct our very first rum distillation. I am beyond excited that we will have our rum ready for drinking within the next 2 weeks!

I’m having so much fun learning the ins and outs of the equipment and I’m confident I will learn to perfect my own technique as I develop a distilling style unique to TNE NYC. Even though it’s overall very exciting, it’s been an adjustment getting used to full on manual labor. I’ve been working long days driving a fork lift, lifting and dumping drums, tightening fittings, pumping hoses, washing/scrubbing down tanks and floors, learning new tools (plug wrenches, hydrometers, density meters, graduated cylinders, etc) – my hands are ripped up and full of new calluses. Not to mention we don’t have AC so basically just been layered in dirt and sweat. Sure is a lot different than my old business casual, air conditioned office with mahogany desk and Bloomberg screens…

I’m expecting to be full of new muscles within the next few months

Net/net so far so good. The distillery smells amazing – the fermenting molasses and sugars are delightful. I am really pumped to perform my first distillation tomorrow on Cleo the Still. Hoping it goes relatively seamless although expecting there to be a learning curve. It’s going to take a little time to get my grove on with the whole process from start to finish. However, I’m aiming to be drinking mojitos with our rum by next weekend.

Stay tuned for way more regular updates now that we are on the move. I have pictures of the finished distillery, our bottles, and other goodies to come this week as we begin our soft launch. CANNOT WAIT TO TASTE THE FIRST DELICIOUS SIP!

So here we are in the final days of construction…where every minute feels like an hour haha. The boiler installation is just about complete and today we received a new gas line from National Grid – this will increase the building’s overall service and give us enough natural gas to fuel our 1m+ BTU boiler. We still need to finish some electric wiring, install a fresh air vent, install the bar sink, pressure test the glycol pipes and the gas line, CLEAN, and get inspected. Goal is to finish that by mid-week next week. The goal can easily be achieved if all the guys just show up for work which is proving to be a difficult accomplishment. However, I will be optimistic — hope to be distilling by Thurs!

We’ve got our 2580 lbs of molasses, our nutrients, and our yeast all here patiently waiting to be cooked up! Also we have received 200 sample bottles for our custom molds and our labels and stoppers should be delivered within the coming 2 weeks. The final bottle shipment is scheduled for the last week of June when all 22,000 come! Sneak peak of our look coming VERY soon…

So all very exciting stuff and still <<relatively>> on schedule for a product release by the end of June…stay tuned for next week’s excitement!

Been a while since I have blogged – ‘bout time for an update…Needless-to-say, the past month has been quite hectic. The good news is the construction is almost completely finished. We currently have most of the major equipment (including Cleo the still) set up within our new walls, windows, and doors. Additionally, the bathroom is complete and fully functioning – huge (especially given my commute is about 45 mins each way from Rockaway to the distillery). And…the most exciting part of today has been finishing the office set up – used my new power outlets to install my router/internet, phone + voicemail, printer, and fax. <<Some of you will recognize that desk from my apartments in Montreal and my laptop from grad school – gotta sweat those assets>> I’ll now be on Meadow St 100% of the time as I have all the necessary office equipment in place — You can now reach The Noble Experiment NYC via our landline at (718)381-3693 or fax at (718)381-3675 :)

So what’s left before we can start distilling?

1. the boiler. It has been quite an interesting ride with that thing but hope to complete the installation by the end of this week/early next at the latest. We need steam heat to do anything.

2. the glycol chiller. Tomorrow the guys are coming to connect the glycol chiller to some of the tanks so we can maintain certain temperatures throughout our process and chill filter our un-aged spirits for a cleaner product.

3. materials. Ingredients are in transit – should be here by week’s end.

So, realistically we should be distilling by the first week in June (as promised, we will be drinking lots of rum this summer.)! The tasting room and tours will be a work in progress as we move through the summer and get into our groove – my contractor, Joe Gina (who’s the man), built a temporary bar in the tasting room and we will continue to improve the room over years as we (hopefully) have more disposable income. Stay tuned for more info on that front.

In other news: our custom bottles are finished and look awesome! The samples have arrived with a large shipment to follow in the coming weeks. I’ll give a sneak peak once the labels are printed.

There is sure to be lots of excitement over the next month and I will make it a point to be better about blogging!

So we (DSP-NY-21001, our Federal Plant Permit #) have been at it for a few weeks now and we are making worthy progress. The general contractor, Joe, is really one of the best decisions I have made thus far. If I ever go to war I definitely want him (and the 10 guys he rolls with at all times) on my side. He works fast and efficiently for a very reasonable price – and so far the work looks good. All of the interior walls have been demised, including bathroom, office, partitions, and cinder block boiler room. Each wall has been wired by our electrician, Garth aka Tyson (no clue why?), and furnished with switches and outlets. Garth/Tyson has also begun installing some new light fixtures throughout the space. Additionally, we have washed the bricks and created two windows for light in the back of the space and some viewing windows in the wall in front of the manufacturing area. We have also installed 7 new steel doors and an ADT security system.

Remainder of Construction Check-List (ex-equipment installation): upgrade gas line + install the boiler, install bathroom fixtures & bar sink, chop up concrete to create floor drains, finish frames and glass for windows, wash and seal the floors, paint, CLEAN, and attempt to furnish the tasting room. Hopefully the next few weeks will be smooth (enough) sailing and we will be ready to install the still and additional equipment (which I had scheduled to arrive April 9th for good luck as it’s the day my mom and late grandfather were born..) by the first or second week of May. The tasting room will most likely be a work in progress over the remainder of 2012 as we add details and make it welcoming. I am trying not to lose sight in what our goals are – distilling hand-crafted, premium quality spirits. Let’s push to get our product out there for tasting and trial and focus on the excessive details of the distillery later.

Aside from that, we continue to tackle the permitting processes. The company is still waiting on our state license which should arrive in the next few weeks — I and the investors (and their wives!) have basically given our first born to the state for identification purposes at this point. However, on a positive note — just yesterday — our labels were approved by the TTB and we received our COLA (Certificate of Label Approval) – now waiting on our custom bottles to be produced and we will be good to go on packaging!

As “they” say – Rome wasn’t built in a day. Alas, we keep moving forward. In the meantime, I go watch the workers do their thing every day on Meadow St. I’m totally getting used to manual labor on a male-dominated industrial zone in north Brooklyn. It’s a long way from the offices of a hedge fund but the change is refreshing – from suit and desk to hard hat and fork lift.

As we paddle through the muddy waters of construction – I figure it is a good time for an update…

The past couple of weeks have been exciting and stressful as managing different crews and scheduling contractors around architects around plumbers around deliveries around electricians is quite the full time job in itself. <<Not to mention finding solutions for all of the cost overruns that keep popping up all over the place>> However, it is really amazing to see the space coming into its own and the vision manifesting into a reality – Needless to say, I am VERY EXCITED TO GET THROUGH THE NEXT FEW WEEKS

Yesterday the fork lift arrived which was interesting given it was loaded to a 60 ft tractor trailer that had to back into our loading dock from the one-lane Meadow St. Thankfully, some of the guys working inside helped me hold down the block, move cars and block traffic and we were successfully able to get the truck off the flatbed and into the warehouse – where there’s a will there’s a way! It’s funny to see situations like these in action – the guys who work in these trades just look at me and say “how the hell did you get into this project?” — for example, yesterday the driver who delivered the truck went to give a tutorial on how to use it to one of the contractor’s workers thinking he was to be driving it around, when I interrupted and said “show me I’ll be using it” he was quite surprised…haha all in a day’s work!

In other news – Cleo the Still has officially cleared customs here in the US and is currently at the NY Port waiting to be delivered this coming Monday afternoon!!! She will be accompanied by a container full of additional equipment which includes most of the major set-up for the distillery space. For now, we will just store the pallets safely until we are 100% ready to install within the next couple of weeks. The goal is to have all construction and installation complete by the beginning of May so we can launch our rum just in time for some summer fun!!

After all of this heavy lifting is complete (plus NYS Liquor Authority license approval and TTB COLA label approval), we will be super excited to release the “look” of our bottles complete with unique label design. We truly hope you all will love the presentation as much as what is inside (which I promise will be a unique, delicious spirit)!

To those of you celebrating holidays this weekend – hope they are delightful — Please stay tuned next week for the arrival of baby Cleo!!

I arrived home this past Tuesday night from a one-on-one distillation consultation session in Chicago to find out Wednesday morning that our work permits have been approved!!! After a lovely (sarcasm) couple of months (which has felt like years) going back and forth with the NYC Dept of Buildings – they are letting us move forward with the plans. Apparently it’s not all that easy to open a distillery in the middle of New York City haha. Thank you to our patient architects and let the construction games begin!

The goal is to be ready (or ready enough) to receive the majority of our equipment when it arrives on April 2 (only 18 days away, yikes!). The majority of the job is plumbing (equipment installation/boiler/new bathroom) and cleaning – the warehouse is dusty and dirty right now but after some ceiling vacuuming, brick washing, and painting I’m confident it will look just perfect. We also have to outfit the demised walls and equipment with electricity. You can check out some pre-construction pics on our Facebook page.

Aside from that – I’m happy to announce we received our Federal Distillers Plant license at the end of February! You can now proudly refer to The Noble Experiment NYC as DSP-NY-21001. Now just waiting on the NYS Liquor Authority to grant our distillery license and for the Federal label licenses to be approved and we can turn the page on the majority of the licensing (for now). We also finalized and ordered our own unique bottles which I’m hoping you will like as many hours were spent deliberating on them. In order to secure the glass moulds we wanted, we had to order a massive number of bottles so hopefully they don’t take up a lot of space in the distillery for too long

Rum coming in 2+ months – Prepare for lots of mojitos, daiquiris, swizzles, punches and whatever other delicious concoctions we can create with our rum this summer. Stay tuned.